Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Tanzania and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing The Birthday Party to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Ohio Players. All the underground hits.
All Niagra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roxette record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kaleidoscope record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brand Nubian,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Black Sheep,
Terrestrial Tones,
T.S.O.L.,
Fela Kuti,
Bobby Byrd,
Davy DMX,
Ultra Naté,
Panda Bear,
Bill Wells,
Girls At Our Best!,
Quantec,
Dark Day,
Eric Dolphy,
the Human League,
Camouflage,
The Pretty Things,
Wally Richardson,
Fort Wilson Riot,
La Düsseldorf,
Moby Grape,
The Happenings,
The Evens,
Wolf Eyes,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Dual Sessions,
The Saints,
Freddie Wadling,
The American Breed,
Joe Finger,
Basic Channel,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Harpers Bizarre,
Trumans Water,
Banda Bassotti,
MDC,
Porter Ricks,
Main Source,
Babytalk,
The United States of America,
Cymande,
Loose Ends,
Grey Daturas,
Pagans,
The Angels of Light,
Pole,
The Human League,
Patti Smith,
The Trojans,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Sonics,
Mary Jane Girls,
the Slits,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Dirtbombs,
The Divine Comedy,
Carl Craig,
The Searchers,
Man Eating Sloth,
Barbara Tucker,
Gang Green,
The Residents,
Dead Boys, Dead Boys, Dead Boys, Dead Boys.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.